AAWC 2018 Scholars

Scholar Showcase

To view our list of past scholarship recipients, please visit * Our Past Scholars * page.

2018 Scholarship Winners

Cecilia Moy Yep Scholar: Angela Dong

Angela Dong

Angela was born in the United States, but moved to China as a child. When she returned to the U.S. years later, she found it difficult to adapt to the culture and language. Angela credits the Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic School for helping in her adjustment process and for providing her with a strong educational foundation. At John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School, she takes advanced placement and honors courses while maintaining a high GPA, is a member of Mu Alpha Theta and the Spanish Club, and participates in many school activities. In her free time, Angela volunteers at Holy Redeemer and the Free Library to help young students with their homework. Angela was awarded the Service Super Star in her freshman year at Hallahan. She is the first in her family to attend college and will be enrolled at Drexel University in the fall.

PECO Smart Ideas STEM Scholar: Jacquelyn Chow

Forced to leave Indonesia due to the riots of 1998, Jacquelyn Chow’s parents moved to America and worked at a donut shop for almost 13 years. There, she spent countless hours alongside her parents, learning about her Indonesian heritage and her parents’ unrealized dreams of attending college. She is currently a senior at Julia R. Masterman High School and is the secretary/treasurer of the National Honor Society, a member of the Spanish National Honor Society, the layout editor of the school newspaper, and first doubles of the badminton team. In addition, she tutors math and Spanish to middle and high schoolers at her school. Outside of school, she has taken art classes at Fleisher Art School for 10 years (6 of those years were in printmaking) and she has been playing piano at the Settlement Music School for 7 years. She also volunteers with local community groups such as her Indonesian church community and the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation. This fall, Jacquelyn will enter Swarthmore College as a first-generation college student pursuing computer science and psychology.

Jacquelyn Chow

Powell Family Foundation Scholar: Anna Vien Nguyen

Anna Vien Nguyen

Anna’s China-born grandparents and Vietnam born parents migrated to America to escape the war. She attends Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School, and is a 2016 Fellow in the Germination Project - a philanthropic program that cultivates Philadelphia’s future leaders. Anna also plays the violin, and is the Associate Concertmaster of her school orchestra and a member of the All Philadelphia High School Orchestra. When she was in 9th grade, she traveled to Italy with the Orchestra to perform in five concerts. Anna also volunteered at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to assist with biobanking of human blood samples with the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network. She mentors the middle school mathematics competition team at school and teaches young children Mandarin Chinese on the weekends. She is a member of her school’s French National Honor Society and has won the U.S. National French Exam for 3 consecutive years. The first in her family to attend college, Anna will study Pre-Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the hope of one day becoming a doctor and saving lives.

PNC Bank Scholar: Sarenna Roeung

Sarenna’s parents migrated from Cambodia and worked in various labor-intensive jobs to support her and her three elder siblings, who were also able to pursue higher education. Inspired and motivated by her family, Sarenna is an honor student at Central High School and actively involved in several extracurricular activities and community service projects. She is the vice president of Central’s Recycling Club, an organization that helped her grow as a confident leader while serving the school’s community. She is a member of the National Honor Society, where she participated in community service projects that promoted school-wide voter registration and mentored younger students. She also interned at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (Philadelphia Division) and Youth Engineering and Science. She will be studying chemical engineering at Drexel University this fall.

Sarenna Roeung

Keystone First Health Plan Scholar: Linda Yang

Linda Yang

As a first generation Asian American headed to college, Linda credits her hardworking parents for becoming the independent person that she is today and values the support of family and friends. She challenges herself with arduous courses and thrives in the competitive atmosphere at Masterman High School. She enjoys helping others and participates in various clubs and community activities including the Philadelphia SUNS, Youth Volunteering Corps, and the University of Pennsylvania's Aspire Program. Her perseverance has also been strengthened as captain of the badminton team and member of the volleyball team. An internship with the Liberty Trust Program has steered her interest to the field of business. Linda intends to major in marketing at Penn State.